Wouter & Ymke 
Let’s start with this: yes, the game is really called Candy, Spiders, Leopards. And no, I don’t think you’re supposed to take it entirely seriously.
The game is loosely based on a strange real-world phenomenon called FAFROTSKIES, which stands for “Falling From The Skies”. It refers to bizarre things that have been reported falling from the sky over the years, everything from frogs and fish to coins and, apparently, the odd spider or two. It’s a term coined by writer Ivan Sanderson, and this game builds a whole playful concept around it.
Set in Japan during a mysterious weather event, Candy, Spiders, Leopards puts you in the role of a group of kids who’ve ignored stay-at-home orders to go out and watch the weirdness unfold. Your goal is to collect the strangest and most valuable things falling from the sky. Some are sweet, some are dangerous, and some you probably shouldn’t be catching without a permit.
👥 2-5 players, ages 10+
⌛ Playing time: 25-45 minutes
📝 Designers: Shunsuke Tanabe & Rio Kariya
🎨 Artwork: hogepiyo
🏢 Publisher: Musoka Studio (review copy provided)
How it plays
The game takes place over four rounds, or more if you’re playing with three or five players. Each round is made up of three trick-taking sequences, and each one offers a small set of cards you’re competing for. These are the so-called “Fafrotskies”.
Before the round begins, you lay out nine Fafrotskies cards in a row. These are divided into three groups of three. Each group represents one batch of falling objects you’ll try to win.
Players then get nine rain cards and divide them secretly into three piles of three. Each pile will be used in one of the three trick-taking rounds. Once the piles are set, that’s it. No reordering, no adjusting. You commit up front and then just hope it works out.
Before the first trick is played, players can silently give a thumbs-up to declare Good Weather. This is a kind of reverse bet. You’re saying, “I won’t win anything this round.” If you succeed, you earn a Good Weather card worth seven points. If you fail and win even one trick, you lose that bonus and every Fafrotskies card you accidentally won becomes a penalty. They’re flipped face down and will cost you two points each.
Each of the three mini-tricks plays out with the usual trick-taking rules. One player leads a card, the rest follow suit if they can. Blue cards act as trumps, so they can beat any colour. Whoever plays the highest valid card wins the trick and claims one of the cards from the Fafrotskies line.
Once all three piles have been played, you check Good Weather declarations, pass the first player token, and move into the next round.
Scoring happens at the end of the final round. Each of the four types of Fafrotskies (candy, spiders, leopards and shooting stars) has its own scoring card. Each card has an A and a B side, and before the game starts, players agree on which side to use for each type. Scoring varies quite a bit depending on the card side in play. Some reward collecting the most of a type, others use fixed point tables, and a few introduce twists like score multipliers or even instant win conditions. It’s a good way to vary how the game feels each time you play it.
Some Fafrotskies cards show two icons instead of one, meaning they count double for that category. Good Weather cards are always worth seven points. And of course, those face-down cards from failed weather declarations are minus two points each.
Whoever ends with the most points wins, and probably gets the moral victory of surviving a leopard storm.
Artwork and visual design
The visual style of Candy, Spiders, Leopards is deliberately playful, and fits the tone well. Illustrator hogepiyo leans into bold shapes and soft lines, using bright, slightly pastel colours to create a cheerful, surreal atmosphere. It feels a bit like a children’s book, which works nicely considering you’re meant to be seeing all this through the eyes of curious kids.
Rain cards are clean and clear. They come in red, green and blue, with large numbers and distinct icons that make them easy to scan. The blue cards are trumps and visually stand out, which helps avoid confusion during play.
Fafrotskies cards are simple and expressive. The falling objects are drawn with personality but without clutter, and the layout is consistent enough that you won’t spend time flipping cards around to work out what’s going on. Scoring cards, Good Weather cards and the first player card all follow the same visual language. Clear icons, minimal text, and logical colour cues. It’s the kind of design that quietly does its job without needing to shout about it.
The game looks like it could be chaotic, but it actually plays quite smoothly, thanks in large part to how the components are laid out.
How it played at our table
We played with different group sizes to get a feel for it. With four players, the game clicked straight away. The rhythm was steady, and the trick-taking was competitive without feeling too intense. It helped that the rules were easy to explain. Most people understood how the game worked after one round.
The theme got a few odd looks at first. “Why is there a leopard on this card?” tends to raise questions. But the surreal tone won people over quickly. The whole idea is so unusual that it becomes a conversation point before you even start playing.
The Good Weather mechanic turned out to be the part people remembered most. It’s surprisingly hard to win nothing, and the quiet thumbs-up declaration often created some proper tension. When someone tried to stay out of the action and still ended up winning a trick by accident, it always led to a mix of laughter and mild frustration.
At three players, the game still held up. The level of control felt slightly higher, since there’s a bit more room to read what the others are doing. Two players was a different experience altogether. The trick-taking becomes more about deduction than competition, as you can figure out what your opponent has in hand. It’s not bad, but it does feel less like a trick-taking game and more like a slow tactical duel.
What we think
This isn’t a perfect game, but it is a very interesting one. It manages to combine a strange, charming theme with a fairly tight and clean ruleset. The mix of traditional trick-taking and pre-round planning is unusual and works surprisingly well. It rewards careful thinking, but still leaves enough room for chaos and gut decisions.
It’s best with three or four players. That’s when the balance between planning, bluffing and reacting feels just right. Two players is more of a curiosity. Playable, but not really the same experience.
Where it might put some players off is in the luck factor. Scoring can swing quite heavily, especially in the final round. You can play a solid game and still lose if someone happens to win a card that’s suddenly worth twenty points because of the scoring card in use. It’s part of the charm, but also something to be aware of. This is not the kind of game where everything is under your control.
Still, it made us laugh, made us think, and kept us coming back for another round. It’s not a must-have for everyone, but if you like trick-taking games and don’t mind a bit of unpredictability, it’s worth trying. Especially if you enjoy something that doesn’t look or feel quite like anything else.
Also, if you’ve never shouted “Nooo, I didn’t want the spider!” during a card game, this one might be your chance.
📝 We received a copy of the game from Musoka Studio.
